


The Self-Proclaimed God of War and his Errand Boy

by machidesuyo



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Ancient Roman Religion & Lore
Genre: Adolescent Sexuality, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, High School, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, One-Sided Attraction, Questioning, Sexuality Crisis, Sorry Not Sorry, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-01-24 16:20:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 25
Words: 12,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21341143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/machidesuyo/pseuds/machidesuyo
Summary: Ares is a delinquent who is the leader of his gang at school. Hephaestus is a first-year who's in love with his best friend, Dionysus, who already has a girlfriend. The two cross paths when Ares gets into a car accident.Warning : I update whenever i feel like it. This is a joke fic and I don’t take it seriously, so dear readers please don’t take it seriously as well
Relationships: Aphrodite/Ares (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Ares/Hephaestus, Ares/Hephaestus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Dionysus/Ariadne (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Dionysus/Hephaestus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Dionysus/Hephaestus (One Sided Attraction)
Comments: 80
Kudos: 72





	1. Ares

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer : I don’t own the gods. I own this story and the crack i was high on while writing this story

It wasn’t preposterous to think that Ares wasn’t a terrifying man. After all, he is the leader of a group of delinquents who consider themselves as self-proclaimed war gods. They terrorize the whole student body, chaos, even the teachers are afraid of them. The only person brave enough to stand up to him is the head of the student council, Athena, who is equally terrifying, in a much dignified manner.

Of course, someone with that much influence, albeit not a very great one, will demand and bully his peers. The underclassmen don’t dare to glance at him, out of fear he would pick fights. A few fearless students had tried to stand up against him, keyword : _had_.

Drinking from his beer can as he walked across the street, he felt his phone vibrate. Someone had sent him a message, how strange. He opened it, sent from an anonymous number. A rather long message it was, but he froze at it’s contents, forgetting he was still standing in the middle of the road.

“Boss, watch out!” Polemus cried out.

His warning came too late, and Ares had collided with a truck.


	2. Hephaestus

The school bell rang, marking the end of another day. Dionysus unceremoniously shoved his homework and books into his school bag, unable to wait any longer to step foot out of the school.

“You should treat your books better, Dio,” The boy’s best friend, Hephaestus, commented on his tardiness.

“I just can’t wait to get out of here,” Dionysus slung his bag against his back. 

“By the way,” Hephaestus fumbled with something behind his back, “Are you free today?”

“Nope!” Dio gleed, “Ariadne and I are going on a date today at the mall! I can’t wait!”

“Oh,” Hephaestus’ clenched his hands, crumpling the two movie tickets he held.

“Did you need something from me?”

“No, it’s just,” The boy fumbled with his words, thinking of excuses, “I was thinking we could study for our Maths test together.”

“Isn’t that on Tuesday?” Dio laughed as they walked out of the classroom, “It’s a Friday! Tomorrow’s the weekend! We should relax and have fun!

“Anyway, be seeing you, Heph!” Dionysus practically ran past the crowd of students making their way out. He stopped at the front of the class labelled “1-C”, to which Ariadne appeared. They both greeted each other, talking to each other. Neither of them noticed Hephaestus, who stood still in front of his class.

“Goddamit,” he let the word slip past his mouth when the couple was nowhere to be seen.

His prosthetic leg ached, but the pain couldn’t compare to the tightness in his chest.


	3. Crossing Paths

Hephaestus lied down on the bed in his dorm. His roommate was rarely ever present after school hours, and Heph barely ever got to know him. He peered towards the tickets that sat atop his desk, looking quite lonely. He couldn’t even recall what movie it was for, he mind was too occupied with his best friend.

He rolled back and forth on his bed, trying to forget Dionysus.

‘Dionysus, Duonysis, who is he?’ Hephaestus thought, smugly mispronouncing his name, ‘I dunno who that is!’

His brain kept throwing his emotions back and forth. He felt like he wanted to cry as loud as he can, but another part of him wanted to throw himself off the building for being so selfish. Ariadne’s his girlfriend for Chaos’ sake! Why is he acting as if his best friend was a two-timer? He couldn’t understand why his heart was the way it is.

He sighed. Why did he have to fall for someone who was unreachable in a thousand different ways. Why did he have to fall for that stupid smile that melted his heart, or that hand that held out to him when no one else did?

The knock on his door brought him back to reality. Weird, he wasn’t expecting any guests. He grabbed the tickets and shoved them down his pocket. It may be just his roommate’s friend, or so he thought. When he opened the door, two figures loomed over him, both of which wore the same school uniform as he, only disheveled.

“Hey you,” the shorter one leaned, “Aren’t ya Hephaestus?”

The smaller boy froze, overwhelmed by the two delinquents at his door. He silently nodded in response, and was rewarded with a grim smile. He was grabbed by the forearm and pulled towards the ruffian at his door.

“You mind following us for a bit?”

<><><> 

Hephaestus was thrown towards the cold hard floor. He flinched when the he heard the door shout loudly. He got up slowly and looked around the room. An infamous man sat at a black couch. His school coat and shirt had been unbuttoned, revealing the bandages around his torso. His face was patched up, his bangs covering the bandages around his head.

It was Ares in the flesh, straight out of the car accident he had been involved in a month ago. Hephaestus pleaded internally to whatever deity that was up there for Ares to at least spare his life. Unlike many of his victims, Hephaestus wasn’t an innocent. He knew exactly why he had been brought to this place.

“So, your name is Hephaestus,” He started in a low growl, “You’re not a really smart person aren’t you? Who the hell sends chainmail using their school email?”

Hephaestus kept his mouth shut, biting his tongue. Ares stood up and walked towards the boy, whose instinct was to back up.

“Oi, I’m asking you a question,”

“It wasn’t my fault that you got into a car accident--,”

His sentence was cut off when he was pushed to the wall. Ares grabbed his collar and raised the smaller boy to his eye level.

“Oh really?” He laughed, “Did you already forget what you wrote in that damn email? Honestly, were you looking for a death wish? Or were you trying to avenge for a friend who crossed me once?”

Hephaestus clung unto Ares’ wrists, his nails digging into skin. His yellow eyes glared at deep green ones in defiance. Ares’ face wrinkled in irritation, and dropped the boy into the floor. An idea loomed over his head, and he internally smiled. Surely, this would teach the brat to know his place.

“You’re persistent, aren’t you?” Ares smirked, baring his teeth. He crouched down and pinned Hephaestus, trapping him like an animal, “But I kinda like you.”

Hephaestus’s mind was puzzled, even moreso at the hand that was extended to him.

“Let’s be friends, alright?”

<><><>  
  


Dionysus hated lines. He and Ariadne had waited in the line to purchase cinema tickets. He leaned over to see what his girlfriend was doing, to see her busy scrolling over her phone. He sighed, looking around to see his surroundings.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his best friend. He wanted to call out to him, but he moved too fast into the theater.

And is that Ares with him?


	4. First Errands

Ares lounged on couch, kicking his legs back and forth. Unlike the rest of the school, he and his gang spent their lunchtime in an abandoned shed that was hidden in the mountain that their school sat atop in. His fellow delinquents Enyo and Polemus were with him, the former was leaned against the wooden wall and the latter was fiddling with his calculator as he did his homework.

The shed door opened with a bang. Hephaestus walked in as he carried a plastic bag, setting it in front of Polemus. The boy glared at Ares, who only smirked.

“Finally!” Polemus threw the calculator away and searched in the bag. Enyo walked towards them and took the lunchset that Polemus had been handing out to them.

“I’m going back,” Hephaestus declared. As he turned to walk out, Polemus grabbed the edge of Hephaestus’ shirt.

“Do my homework,” Polemus commanded. Hephaestus wondered how a tone so demanding could go with a face so innocent.

“Do it yourself. I haven’t eaten yet and I’m hungry,”

“Heph,” Ares called out to him as if he were his pet. When their eyes met he could clearly read what the taller man was trying to get across. Hephaestus sighed in frustration.

‘I’d probably get it done before lunch ends,’

<><><> 

He couldn’t. As a result, the entire period after lunch, his arms encircled his empty gut, which ached so much. His eyes wanted to close shut and his body had no energy to keep up to what was being taught to him. The teacher noticed his state of plight.

“Hephaestus, is something the matter?”

He smiled, “I’m just feeling sick, sir. I’d like to go to the clinic.”

“I’ll accompany him!” Dionysus piped up from his seat. The teacher, knowing how stubborn the boy was, had no choice but to comply.

As they went outside, Dionysus practically skipped his way down the halls, while Hephaestus struggled to keep up with him.

“I didn’t know you were that happy to skip class,” Hephaestus chuckled.

“It’s not that,” his best friend replied, “I’m just glad we’re spending our time together.”

Hephaestus raised an eyebrow, he wasn’t going to let his emotions get the better of him; not now.

“We go to class together everyday, dummy,”

“Yeah, but,” Dionysus slowed down, “We never eat lunch together, and we never hang out after school together.”

Hephaestus felt a twinge of guilt, “Just hangout with Ariadne or your other friends, you’ve got lots of them.”

_Unlike me_, he added mentally. He was shocked when Dionysus suddenly stopped in front of him.

“It’s not the same, you know?” he continued, “We haven’t even talked for nearly a week.”

Hephaestus stayed silent. He didn’t know how to respond to seeing his usually upbeat and cheerful friend so melancholic.

“Is something bothering you?” Dionysus pressed on. Then, he remembered what he saw during his date with Ariadne, “Did Ares get to you too?”

“That’s preposterous!” Hephaestus laughed, “I’m not as reckless as you!”

Dionysus puffed, “It was an accident, alright! All I did was spill a drink during lunch and he asked for a fight!”

“You spilled it all over his phone and _white_ gym uniform,”

“Whatever! I don’t care about that anymore!” Hephaestus chuckled at Dionysus’ naivete, of how easy it is to divert his attention to something else entirely different. He felt relief at not getting caught as Ares’ errand boy—that’d be humiliating. It drained him both mentally and physically being ignored by his own best friend whilst being worked to the bone as a measly errand boy. The longer he listened to Dio’s rambles, the more he started doubting himself on all of this.

Was sending chainmail worth it over spilled juice?

Was all of this worth it?


	5. Pool Cleaning

Out of all the things he hated about being Ares’ errand boy, he hated being the one to take the blame for his mistakes.

Those mistakes kept piling up and up. The teachers didn’t seem to mind at first, but they kept popping up more and more. They were sometimes harmless ones, but other times they were dangerous. The last straw was when Hephaestus got into trouble with an upperclassman named Amphitrite, whom accused him and Ares of bumping into her during lunch, causing her to spill her food.

That was why Hephaestus wasn’t in his dorm relaxing or doing his homework, but rather at the school’s swimming pool, which was drained of water. He rolled up the sleeves of his pants and took off his uniform top, revealing the t-shirt underneath it. Tying the sleeves of his uniform to his waist, he grabbed a pool brush and stated to mop the tiles.

“Nice prosthetic leg,” He looked at Ares, who merely sat at the edge of the pool, leaving Hephaestus to do all the work.

“Thanks, I got it when I lost my real one,” He replied sarcastically, “Shouldn’t you be cleaning?”

“I’m not fully healed. I shouldn’t be doing heavy work,”

“You’re lucky that you got away with just a limp,” Hephaestus mumbled under his breath.

“I’m sorry, is someone jealous?” Ares replied smugly. He was knocked off the edge when the boy sprayed water at him with the hose he was holding. Hephaestus smirked as he struggle to get up, but turned pale when he saw prepare to sprint.

“Get back here!”

They chased each other through the slippery pool. The swimming club president, Poseidon, who had given them their punishment, had just arrived after seeing Amphitrite off. When he saw what ensued, he shook his head.

“Idiots,”


	6. School Skippers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> goin on a hiatus for a week cus of semester exams. have this longer than usual chapter

Hephaestus wanted to cry, but he couldn’t. Yesterday he went back to his dorm completely drenched with soap and water because he and Ares were playing cat and mouse in the swimming pool. His prosthetic still felt cold from the water.

And now, he’s climbing the school fence, with Ares standing on the other side, his arms extended.

“I can’t believe you’re making me skip school with you!” Hephaestus cried, “You inhumane bastard!”

“Stop whining, or I’ll let you fall,” Ares warned. When Hephaestus let his hands go he braced for impact, he yelped when felt a pair of strong arms catch him. He opened his eyes and saw Ares looking down on him with surprise.

“Dude, are you weightless or something?” He said as he set Hephaestus down.

“I’m not weightless, you’re just gigantic,” He retorted, “Where are we going?”

“To the arcade in,” Ares snickered as he walked past the boy.

“But to get to one, you’ll need to get a ride to the capital!”

“Well, duh?” Ares sighed, “That’s why I told you to bring your rail card?”

Hephaestus cringed internally as he followed the delinquent out of the school.

‘_This man is going to be the death of me,_’

<><><> 

Hephaestus had never been to the capital before. He stuck to Ares like glue the whole time they walked. When they stopped at their destination, Hephaestus could only gawk. The mall in front of him basically towered every single building he had ever seen in his life, famous brands of clothing were sprawled on the wall.

“Have you never seen a mall before?” Ares laughed at his reaction.

“No,”

“You serious?” The delinquent didn’t expect such a sad answer, “You better stick close, because there are going to be a lot of people.”

Hephaestus nodded, his eyes never left Ares for a second.

<><><> 

When they arrived at the arcade, it was packed with people, which was pretty weird considering it was still school and work hours. They played several different games, luckily Ares was prepared for all of them. He brought gloves and a membership card to play a music game. Hephaestus recalled the genre of music Ares chose, it was one that was enjoyed by a member of the smithing club. His name was Kagutsuchi, or so he remembered.

He was utterly destroyed when they played bumper cars. The poor boy practically clung onto Ares as the delinquent crashed onto other players, mostly children. He wouldn’t look up until the ride was over, his arms wrapped themselves around the delinquent’s body.

“Stop being a scaredy-cat,” Ares teased, taking off his helmet.

“Scaredy-cat? You were sending kids flying! You’re lucky you’re big or else you could’ve fallen off the car!”

But of course, they stayed in the arcade. One thing he discovered about Ares was that while his aim wasn’t the best, he was still great at shooting games, and even better at Mario Kart. Hephaestus lost count on the time he internally thought ‘_I’m going to kill this bastard_’ as another blue shell hit his avatar. He was equally great at those basketball games, and by that he made Hephaestus climb his shoulders or the machine to continuously score goals, winning them more tickets.

“We still won, never said we had to play fair,” was his response when being asked about cheating.

One thing Ares was terrible at, was ticket games. His luck and intuition were incredibly terrible, so terrible Hephaestus couldn’t believe this was the same man who destroyed him in Mario Kart. Hephaestus on the other hand, was incredible. He lost count of the times that they cheered when they hit jackpots or got the 1000 ticket discs.

Soon they had baskets full of tickets, which they eagerly couldn’t wait to exchange. Unfortunately, the large doll Ares wanted to give to his crush Aphrodite was already sold, so he had to think of an alternative. He bought a shark plush for Polemus, candy cigarettes for Enyo, yet he still had enough tickets to spare. He looked down at the smaller boy beside him, whom tilted his head in response. The man smirked, setting down his present to the boy.

“I got this for you, take it!”

“……a rice cooker,”

“So you’ll lose those noodle arms and get guns like these,” He flexed his arms, to which Hephaestus rolled his eyes at.

Later, they had dinner at a food court. Ares was amazed by the sight of Hephaestus’ appetite, then again he made the boy skip lunch to go play with him. By the time they went outside, it had already been nighttime. Ares didn’t mind, but Hephaestus grew pale.

“I’m hours past my curfew,” He groaned, “Oh, the security guards are going to kill me!”

Ares was already quite tired. Seeing Hephaestus’ worried state, he only wanted to shut him up as quickly as possible, not thinking his words through.

“Come to my place then,”

The errand boy only looked at him slowly, holding his gifted rice cooker close to his chest.

“Huh?”


	7. An Old Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone thanks for waiting patiently! My exams are finally over and now I can go back to writing!

Hephaestus struggled to keep his eyes open. Never in his life had he stayed out of the dorm this late. His surroundings tempted him with their bright lights and sounds, but he knew if he took his eyes off Ares for a second, he would never find his way back. 

He noticed his steps were getting smaller and smaller. He ran quickly to catch up with him, bumping against several people and almost tripping.

Ares looked behind him and noticed Hephaestus’ plight. He stopped in order to give him some time to breathe.

“We need to hurry or we’ll miss the bus,” He warned the boy, as he looked at Hephaestus clinging onto his rice cooker.

“Ares, is that you?”

The boys turned to the same direction. A woman wearing a thick sweater approached them, carrying a rather large totebag.

“Hera!” Ares beamed, walking towards the woman, “Long time no see!”

“What are you doing in this part of town at this hour?” The woman sighed, “Then again, why should I be surprised? You’re that type of guy.”

‘So much for the bus,’ Hephaestus mumbled internally. He stood awkwardly behind Ares as the two talked about how she felt seeing Ares wear the senior highschool uniform instead of his old middle school one, or how his hair grew more unkempt. When Hera laid eyes on him, he jolted slightly.

“Who’s this? A new friend?”

“Sorta,” Ares gestured at the boy, “This is Hephaestus, he’s my person.”

The statement made Hephaestus roll his eyes. However, such gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Hera.

“This is Hera,” He introduced his friend, “She used to be my upperclassman when she went to our school. She’s a business major student in college now.”

“Ares may be a bit unbearable, but he’s a soft guy on the inside,” Hera caught the boys’ attention, “Take care of him for me, alright?”

“I don’t need any caring!” Ares coughed.

“Yes, you do,” Ares huffed at the statement Hera made, crossing his arms. Hephaestus noticed that Ares was gripping the sleeves of his uniform a little too tightly. He noted to keep that in mind.

“Thanks, I will,” Hephaestus smiled. Hera then gasped a little bit, teasing Ares on how she never expected Ares to befriend someone so well mannered.

After several minutes, they parted ways. Hera waved goodbye, but not before stealing a glimpse of Hephaestus grabbing Ares’ hand. She pondered when Ares made no defiant action, and instead gripping it tighter. Hera finally looked forward when the two disappeared into the crowd of people, wondering if they were more than friends.


	8. Ares’ Apartment

The door to an apartment slammed open. Hephaestus recoiled and pinched his nose, unable to believe what he was seeing. Beer cans sprawled across the floor, alongside empty packets of food. Plastic bags sat at the edge of the room, looking neglected.

“Welcome to mi casa,” Ares’ words dripped with sarcasm, “Don’t get used to it.”

Hephaestus followed him into the apartment after taking off his shoes and socks, but he couldn’t decide whether it was a good idea. The soles of his feet felt awful, but it would’ve been a pain to wash his shoes and socks afterwards.

They arrived in Ares’ room, and Hephaestus couldn’t get more surprised. It was actually clean and tidy. His stuff was well organized unlike that garbage dump of a living room.

Hephaestus set his rice cooker down on Ares’ study, which was built to accommodate the boy’s abnormally large size for a highschooler.

“Hephaestus,” Ares called out his name. Hephaestus sensed the lack of authority that was present whenever he was told to do errands, “Go take a bath while I try to find a spare futon. You can use my clothes for a while.”

Hephaestus nodded in response, hoping silently that the bathroom wasn’t as a mess as the living room. 

<><><>

The clothes were huge, way too huge for his body. Ares’ t-shirt looked like a dress-shirt on him, and Hephaestus had to tie the hem of Ares’ shorts with a rubber band to keep them from sliding off of him.

He went back to Ares’ room to check what he was doing, but the man was nowhere in sight. Curious, he started to wonder where else he might’ve gone. Down the corridor, he saw another room towards the edge of the corridor. He walked towards it and grabbed the doorknob.

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” The boy yelped at Ares’ sudden warning, “Come here.”

“Sorry,” Hephaestus ran to the delinquent. There was makeshift empty space, a clearance in the floor of trash. The dinner table was small and short, pillows acted as chairs.

“Oh yeah, do my homework for a while. I marked it on the textbooks already. You can do whichever one,” Ares commanded, causing the boy to roll his eyes. Of course he’d be bossed around. Hephaestus grabbed the textbook and notebook labelled “Physics” and started to find the questions for homework.

Out of the corner of his eye, he peaked at what Ares was doing. In a small kitchen— scratch that. It was just a small counter with a stove, barely a kitchen. Ares was boiling something in the crockpot. Hephaestus noticed the ramen packets that were almost completely hidden by Ares’ muscular triceps.

“Hey Heph, Do you want me to put in the chili powder?”

“Yes please,” 

“What about an egg and green onions?”

‘ That’s some fancy instant noodles ,’ Hephaestus thought, “Yeah sure.”

“Fork or chopsticks?”

“Either is fine,” Hephaestus’ mind trailed, focusing more on his homework, or rather, Ares’ homework. He almost had a heart attack when Ares suddenly set their dinner on the table.

“Sorry, it’s not much,” Ares apologized for his lacking hospitality, setting down their food with a glass fo cold water alongside it. 

Hephaestus couldn’t stop looking at his dinner. The red hot chili oil glistened in the soup. The chopped green onion and boiled egg was placed so neatly, the food in front of him might as well be a dish from an actual restaurant rather than some cheap instant noodles from the supermarket.

“I’m digging in!” Hephaestus set aside the homework. Ares sat across him and began eating. But something felt strange with his dinner, even though it was the same packet of instant noodles he ate, or was it because—

Yes, it should be.

He looked across the table. Even though it was cheap convenience store instant noodles, seeing Hephaestus eat it with such enthusiasm felt a little odd to him.

Maybe it was that because of that phrase Enyo told him. What was it again? Ah yes, it was, “Food tastes better when you’re sharing it with someone you like.”

Someone he likes? Hephaestus? It couldn’t be, his mind had been in a jumble ever since he planned to ditch school with Heph, yes that’s probably why—

_ Thump _

‘ _Ah, it happened again_ ,’ Ares felt resigned as his chest did  _it_ again. It had been doing  _it_ whenever the two spent time together alone. He thought he had gotten sick from that car crash, but it doesn’t hurt at all, in fact, it soothed him.

Ares pleaded internally to whatever listens to his prayers,  ’_Please, don’t let it be what I think it is._ ’

But it was.


	9. Late Night Blues

Two empty bowls sat side by side in the kitchen sink. The whole room was quiet, except for the occasional clicking sounds that Ares’ calculator made whilst doing his Maths homework.

Hephaestus was on his phone, farming mats in one of those _gacha_ games that eat up the player’s time, sanity and money. He was honestly surprised at first, he never thought Ares would give away the wifi password of his apartment, let alone, make him not do his homework for once.

“Studying is for my own benefit,” was Ares’ excuse, “but the teachers never seem to know how much homework is too much.”

Hephaestus’ mind had gone weary, tired from staring and tapping away at his phone. He yawned and looked at the clock on his phone, showing “9:27”.

“Hey Ares,” he chimed, catching the boy’s attention, “It’s pretty late, aren’t your parents coming home?”

“No they’re not,”

The sentence piqued Heph’s curiosity, “If you don’t mind me asking, why?”

Ares pondered for a moment, “If you tell anyone—“

“I swear, on the Styx,” The boy sighed, monotone as he recited the childish oath Ares made him swear, “I won’t tell a single soul.”

He sighed, “My dad left me when I was young. And my ma works at a late night bar as an entertainer, or as a prostitute, so she wouldn’t be home at this hour.”

Hephaestus thought of what it would be like for Ares, to be all alone in this apartment, eating junk food most of the time, always being so far away from his parents and his friends.

Then he realized that it’s not so different with Hephaestus either.

<><><>  
  


Hephaestus lied on his bed, preparing himself for bed, but he couldn’t sleep just yet. What Ares said just now kind of bugged him. It doesn’t make sense to him as to why Ares would want to be a delinquent, why he’d want to isolate himself from the student body when he already has such a hard life at home?

“Hey, Ares!” He whispered loudly, “Are you awake?”

“I am now,” the boy grumbled, his large back facing Hephaestus.

“Don’t you ever get sick living here?”

“Why? Because you’re tired of this place even though you’ve only stayed here for a day?”

“Cause it’s always you here, and there’s trash everywhere, and you barely see your parents?”

“It doesn’t matter is they’re not here. I don’t care about them anymore,”

“Then why not stay at the school dorm?”

Hephaestus heard the bed sheet rustling, “I mean, you can eat the canteen if you don’t want to cook, but you can also ask for permission to use the pantry. And sure you need to wait in line to take a bath, but we get our own locker in the boys’ locker room, which the teachers never check. I heard that the president of the swimming club hides his porn mags there!”

Ares shifted to take a good look at Hephaestus, to hear his story more, “Our rooms never get checked too, and the wifi connection can be really strong on some days. The roommates can be kind of problematic though, but the dorm lady barely ever mentions any roommate complaints anymore.”

“I bet they’ll start piling up when I move into the dorm,” Ares joked.

“Maybe,” Hephaestus chuckled, “But it’s much better than being in someplace that’s eating you up, isn’t it?”

Ares thought hard at the words, eventually leaving the smaller boy to drift off to sleep. He wondered what would life be like if he didn’t need to come back to an empty home piled with garbage and neglect. He thought of what would it be like if Hephaestus was there living with him.

‘_Maybe I should talk to mom about it_,’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hhhHHHHhhhhhH i wrote this at like 10 pm hahahahaha


	10. The Next Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changed the tags bcs I forgot to add an important detail

“Didn’t have a good night sleep?”

Hephaestus lifted his head at Dionysus’ question, eyes droopy. 

“Not really,” He replied, looking back at his lunch afterwards, mixing his mash potato with gravy. He had to get up earlier than usual because he would miss the train to school. Ares was very much used to it, but Hephaestus never felt more tired than ever. 

His energy is drained even more that Dionysus brought Ariadne along to lunch. 

It’s not like he hated Ariadne, but seeing her here was a punch to the gut—his best friend was pretty much more of a man than he is. After they started to date, Dionysus had slowly but surely become more  mature and level-headed. He was grateful to Ariadne for it, but it saddened him that he couldn’t be the one to change Dio.

No, if it was him in her place, he’d change for the worst. 

It hurt, like spikes digging into his heart. But he’ll try to bury those feelings in him. Whatever happens, he mustn’t let them slip past, for the sake of his best friend.

<><><>

Dionysus felt quite nervous when he wanted to invite Hephaestus to eat with him and Ariadne to lunch. It’s been a few days since they’ve eaten together again, and he’s been building up the courage to do so for a few days. So he tried yesterday, but Hephaestus disappeared without a trace. 

It discouraged him greatly, dropped his mood and appetite for the rest of the day. He was afraid it’d happen again today, since he couldn’t even find Hephaestus in his dorm, and the boy never left him a text or note of where he went. 

He never felt so joyous when he saw Hephaestus walking towards the school gates. The poor boy was practically tackled at light speed by Dionysus, and he was practically hogged for the whole day, heck, he even made space for Hephaestus after school hours, which he was supposed to spend with his girlfriend.

But in their conversations, Hephaestus was strangely melancholic, and he wasn’t excited or happy at all, just very nonchalant.

“Hey, Heph?” Dionysus called, cracking open a cold soda, “Did something happen yesterday?”

“Why’d you ask?”

“Nah, it’s just,” The boy paused, “You’ve been sounding like an old man ever since this morning.”

“Really?” He squeaked, “Do you think puberty is finally going to catch up with me?”

“I meant metaphorically!” They both laughed as Dionysus punched Hephaestus’ shoulders, whom almost fell off his bed. 

“If I fall, I’m pulling you down too,” Hephaestus smirked. He may not know it, but Dionysus was relieved that the old Hephaestus he knew wasn’t gone yet.

“If you pull me, I’ll spill my soda on your bed,” Dionysus retorted.

“Watch it, Dio,” Hephaestus got up and walked to his study to get some chips he bought from the convenience store.

“So yeah like,” Dio set aside his can of soda on the small shelf beside him, underneath the lamp, “What’s up with you?”

Hephaestus went quiet for a while, before answering, “I skipped school yesterday.”

Dionysus almost fell off the bed, Hephaestus was practically a model student in their batch.

“Are you feeling alright?! Do you need to see the nurse?!” He jolted, grabbing Heph’s shoulders. 

“I’m fine,” he reassured, “I just wanted to see something in the capital.”

“The capital? Why would you want to go there?”

“One of the folks at the smithing club told me one of his favorite idol groups was performing today," Hephaestus played with his fingers, "so I went to see the show since he recommended their music to me before.”

“You ditched school to go to a concert?!” Dionysus practically jumped, “Why didn’t you take me with you?!”

“Because you need to study,” Heph flicked his forehead, “Now go home before it gets dark.”

“No fair,” Dionysus only whined, walking towards the door. He stopped when an idea popped out in his head.

“Hey Heph,”

“Yeah?”

“One day,” he turned towards his best friend, “Let’s go to the capital together.”

Hephaestus was silent for a moment, before smiling, “That sounds like a great idea.”

Dionysus smiled back, before sprinting out to the corridor.

“Oh! And please tell me more about the capital tomorrow!” Dionysus’ muffled voice called out, accompanied by loud footsteps.

Even though they won’t be together alone, he couldn’t wait to show Dionysus all the cool stuff he saw yesterday with Ares.


	11. Correlation and Causation

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

Ariadne sat across Dionysus in her empty classroom. It had already been past school hours, the orange sky covered shone so brightly.

“I need your help,” Dionysus admitted, “It’s about Heph.”

“Did something happen between the both of you?”

“I’m not sure myself,” He sighed, “Up until yesterday, I’ve barely seen him during breaks and lunch, and whenever we talked he always sounds so tired.”

Ariadne thought for a while. She didn’t know Hephaestus very well, so his actions never seemed out of the norm to her.

“Do you have a clue to what may be why he’s acting this way?” She inquired.

“My biggest bet is on Ares,” Ariadne had never heard such irritation in Dionysus’ tone, “The timing of it all’s too much to be a coincidence.”

“What timing?”

“Ares got into the accident just a day after we had a fight,” He explained, “The first time Hephaestus stopped hanging out was around the time Ares got discharged from the hospital.

“Then, during out date at the cinema, I saw Ares dragging Heph into one of the theaters! After that, Heph’s been getting into all sorts of trouble, like the last time he was told to clean up the pool!” Dionysus threw his hands up in the air, “And just recently, Hephaestus skipped school!”

“Skipped school? What would he want to skip school for?”

“He says it was because he wanted to go to a concert, but I could tell he was lying,” he sighed, “I just can’t believe he’d lie to me like that.”

“I can see why he’d lie though,” Ariadne admitted, “If Ares is really involved in this, he’d definitely want to keep you out of it, since you might get hurt like last time.”

“I know but,” He sighed, “It’s not nice being ignored by your best friend, especially when he also doesn’t want to drive me away.”

Ariadne rested her cheek on the palm of her hand, trying to grasp the situation, before concocting a plan.

“How about I talk to him first, to see what I can do?”

“Really?” Dionysus gleed, hugging Ariadne from across the table, “Oh, thank you so much!”

Ariadne only hugged him back. She finally had a chance to find out the answer to a very important question.

<><><>  
  


“You seem to be in deep thought,”

Ares eyed at Enyo, leaning against the wall with a cigarette in her mouth.

“Is it weird?”

“For someone like you, yeah,” she blew out a cloud of smoke, “Is something bothering you?”

“I think I’m sick,” Ares admitted to his senior.

“Oh?”

“When I’m with this person, I always get so nervous, but not it’s not terrifying in a sense,” Ares tried to explain the best he can, “I don’t want to scare away this person away, and I want to spend time with them, but I’m kinda scared if they hate me.”

‘They?’ Enyo thought, “Try acting nicer to them.”

“Acting nice is the worst thing I can do,”

“If your feelings for this person are sincere,” Enyo edged, “Then it should work out naturally on its own.”

“Is that so,” Ares sighed in relief, “Then I only have another problem.”

“Another problem?”

At that instant, Ares’ face had turned beet red. His large hand covered his nose and mouth, as if he was embarrassed to admit it himself.

“I think I’m gay,”

A cigarette butt fell to the ground, Enyo’s face was speechless. From those words alone, she had already known who had been occupying Ares’ thoughts. But it was so absurd, she couldn’t just believe it.

“I beg your pardon?”


	12. Understanding His Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of p0rn kiddies close ur eyes

It’s been two days, and yet there’s no sign of Ares. No errands, no homework to do, absolutely nothing. Hephaestus should be glad, but it’s been bugging him a lot lately. He hasn’t even seen the dude at all for 2 days straight, Enyo keeps saying that he’s off to Aphrodite but he can’t help but feel she’s somewhat lying.

He just hope he hadn’t accidentally stepped on a landmine, or else he’d probably have a few days left to live

<><><>

It was late in the evening, yet Enyo hasn’t left for home. 

She sighed. She always knew that Ares would jump into irrational conclusions when he’s panicked or overwhelmed. 

But it’s alright. Ares is still Ares no matter what, her boss and good friend. Polemus would also stick with him regardless.

He’s depending on her heavily for this, luckily she has already prepared for whatever outcome she’ll face.

The door to the shed creaks, Ares’ head pops out of the door crack, nervously entering.

“So?” Enyo approached him, “What did she say?”

Ares gulped, “Aphrodite says that I’m still unsure of myself. She told me to give it time until I’m sure of myself. 

“I’m pretty sure I still like girls, but this guy,”

Ares covered his mouth with his palm, his face still red, “This guy—.”

“Take it slow,”

“The closest thing I ever felt to liking someone was Aphrodite,” his face went back to its normal color, “but my feelings to this guy doesn’t feel like anything I’ve felt towards her at all.

“I’m used to seeing Aphrodite with other boys, but the thought of this guy being someone else,” he clenched his fist, “I can’t stand it at all.”

“I see,” Enyo nodded. She had already solved the pieces of the puzzle, “I understand now, but there’s one thing I need you to make sure of.”

“What is it?” Ares edged closer to Enyo, eager to get any help possible regarding this foreign subject. Enyo shoved a book into Ares’ hands, leaving him speechless.

“What is  _ this _ ?”

“It’s a twink porn mag,” Enyo gave him a thumbs up, “Try and masturbate to this.”

“What the hell, Enyo!” He jolted, “I can’t just masturbate to _one_ porn  mag, it won’t be enough!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aight imma head out bye


	13. Not Quite a Brutal Realization

Another thing Hephaestus was quite jealous that Dionysus had was his ability to make friends fast. They were on their way towards getting lunch, but they weren’t just with Ariadne, but with another student named Hermes from Ariadne’s class and two others who happened to be twins.

Hephaestus remember that the female twinwas a part of the student council, whom everyone in the school dreaded except for Ares and his gang, especially their leader, who Hephaestus heard was quite a fearsome woman. As Ares’ errand boy, that woman is the one person he must avoid at all costs.

<><><>

“Hey Artemis, can I borrow some money?”

Apollo smiled sheepishly, his hands nervously trembling as his twin glared at him.

“Why?” she glared, “You just bought lunch.”

“Please!” he whined, “Or else Ares will snap my neck!”

Artemis slammed her fist to the table, “Goddamnit! Not him again!”

“Technically, it wasn’t his fault this time! I owed him money for something!” Apollo admitted blatantly, “Just $15! Please!”

“No way!” She slapped his hand away.

“Here you can borrow some of mine,” Hephaestus smiled, jumping at the opportunity to befriend Apollo. The boy beamed.

“Thank you so much! You’re a real lifesaver!” Apollo hugged the boy tightly, overwhelming him. Heat and blood rushed to his face, and it stayed there for quite a while, even after Apollo was long gone.

“Don’t worry, he’s always like that,” Artemis apologized, “Even though it’s gotten him into heaps of trouble.”

Hephaestus dismissed it as the group walked towards the cafeteria, but something bothered him. He had never been so ecstatic before, unless he was thinking about Dionysus. It was strange, he never felt so flustered when other girls got so close to him.

Does that mean all this time his feelings towards Dio were because he was just so out of love? Or because he was so into guys?

Hephaestus sighed internally. He knew he had to keep those feelings under control, but he was glad that he wouldn’t need to worry about ruining his friendship.

Although something wasn’t quite in place. He had probably made closer body contact with Ares. Chaos’ sake, because of that time they splashed each other down during detention, they’ve probably seen glimpses of each other naked before. Even further, they’ve eaten dinner together alone and slept in the same room, Hephaestus had even worn Ares’ clothes!

The two had practically shared contact that was really close, closer than the contact that Hephaestus had ever shared with Dionysus. Looking back at it, Hephaestus never felt flustered or panic, except for the part where he’s being chased. All of them seemed to change his perspective on Ares, so much that back then he could’ve never imagined that the thought if the brute would ever calm him.


	14. Cafe Date, I Guess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im back,,,,i had zine work and some competition stuff,,,but im back
> 
> ngl got super pumped up and energized when i read kxctreme’s new cronus/heph story ssjjsjdkdmfk

Hephaestus waited in the school gates. Ares thad texted him, telling him to wait for him after school ends. 

It was so sudden to him, after all, the guy avoided him for days. He thought he was going to get his old life back, but nope! He isn’t as fortunate. Though again, Ares seemed, how do you say it? More tame than usual.

Sure, he’s still an overbearing prick at times, but he stopped making Hephaestus doing errands at lunch so he can eat, and over time Hephaestus went from doing his homework entirely to helping him finish it by teaching Ares stuff that he can’t do.

Maybe he just realized how much of an asshole he was? 

Even then he thought he’d be told to clean up his house or something like that. He didn’t think Ares would be taking him to a cafe in the capital, and such a cozy one too.

There wasn’t a lot of people, so it wasn’t particularly noisy. One thing that stood out to Hephaestus was that the people here were either salarymen working with their laptops and college students in a study group.

“Can’t we just go to your apartment?” He asked.

“We’ve got no food in the fridge, plus my mom nagged at me about bills,” he scowled, directing Hephaestus towards a table near the window. 

“So let’s start with this first—,”

<><><>

Hephaestus couldn’t take his eyes off the food he ordered. Never in his life would he think there’d be a “strawberry cheesecake” flavored coffee. Ares says it’s called a frappe, which is different. Beside it were pancakes disgustingly overloaded with syrup, strawberries and syrup.

Ares nearly gagged at the amount of diabetes that the dish may cause to somebody, but Hephaestus had clearly never seen food like it before. He looked so amazed at just the mere sight if pancakes, and the brute found himself trying to resist a newfound temptation.

_Snap_

Hephaestus looked up at Ares, who was fumbling with his phone in a panicked state. He shrugged it off, thinking the camera sound came from someone else’s phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as u can tell im hungry


	15. The Worst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To them guests giving this crackfic kudos while i’m lazing around during vacation, ur the mans
> 
> also happy holidays & merry christmas

Polemus shuddered at the heaps of books that he found in between the couch of their shed. As an rebellious adolescent boy himself, he knew that delinquents buying porn mags and all sorts of naughty books and comics was too much out of the norm, but the consistent subject put him off, really off.

Comparing their errand boy to the models in a magazine are too preposterous! It’s too uncanny! Maybe he’s feeling unwell, or something.

He sighed, this is the worst

<><><>

‘_I’m the worst_,’

Ares was writhing internally. At first he was going to just going to get back at Hephaestus’ words, but backing down at this point was far too late. He groaned, regretting whatever intuition that made him decide on this moment.

Hephaestus on the other hand was dazed. He told Ares rethink his eating habits, telling him that he can’t rely on takeout, restaurant food, or instant foods forever. He never thought Ares would actually drag him to the supermarket to buy groceries with him. 

Some people gave them weird looks throughout the journey back to the dorms, be it random strangers or students of the same school. 

Rumors had already been speculated since the numerous times Ares had gotten him into so much trouble and detentions, and it would be an understatement to think that Hephaestus is worried about his reputation.

Ah well, highschool is but a fleeting period of his life. It’ll be a matter of a few years before it’s over.


	16. Twink or Not?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i want to get this fic done with but at the same time i don’t

“Guess what, Enyo? I cooked cream stew yesterday, like in the Jhibli movies,”

“Oh really? You probably just bought the ingredients and stared while Hephaestus cooked the whole thing himself,”

“That’s pretty much what happened,”

Polemus ate his lunch awkwardly as the rest of his friends idly chatted without him. He couldn’t get what he saw out of his head.

‘_This is it!_’

“Hey Hephaestus,” 

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever considered yourself a twink?”

Enyo and Ares felt as if the blinds of their windows had opened and had let in the ferocious spring breeze. Did he peek into the couch? They made sure that they hid it well. Does Hephaestus know as well?

“Are you calling me skinny?”

“I mean, you’re not too far off,”

He huffed, “Looks like someone’s been looking at too much porn.”

Polemus grinned as Hephaestus left the shed, knowing if he pushed in any further, he’d be dead, “You know me!”

Enyo banged the table when the door closed.

“What the hell was that for?! Were you trying to get us caught?!”

“What the hell was this?!” He slammed one of the magazine to the table, “This ain’t how you deal with shit like that! Heph said it himself!”

“This has nothing to do with you!”

“Why not?! I’m part of the group too!” He piped up, “It’s not nice to keep secrets among yourselves from your friend!”

“I went to Enyo first because she had more advice to offer. I was going to tell you eventually,” Ares sighed, “But you’re right, I’m sorry for leaving you out of this.”

“However,” he grabbed Polemus by the shoulder, “Pull a stunt like that again and I’ll broadcast your diary over the school radio.”

“Yes, sir,” he gulped nervously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wish my ma would hurry up when she goes shopping
> 
> also i mispelled ghibli for copyright reasons


	17. Worry Not

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this on a whim lol

“Is it just me, or does Hephaestus have the smallest appetite in the world?” Apollo inquired, the clunks of a can resonated, “We’ve been hanging out with you since the start of the school year, but I’ve only seen him, like, several times at lunch.”

“Yeah, sort of,” Dionysus sighed, cracking open a cold soda.

“How so?”

“Back when the semester started, I barely ever see him at the cafeteria or at the school gates. He was always off doing stuff, but he’d never tell me,” he confessed, “Around the same time, he’s been getting into all sorts of trouble.”

“My junior has dealt with him personally once,” Artemis nodded, “They didn’t describe him as a troublemaker. Told me he kept apologizing the whole time.”

“Right? He looks really meek!” Apollo laughed, “I swear he was going to self destruct when I jumped at him that time!”

“If anyone was in his position, they’d probably be jumpy around strangers. There are some pretty nasty rumors involving him and,” Artemis leaned in, whispering the next few words, “the ‘A’ man.”

Dionysus winced slightly at the mention of Ares, the root of all Hephaestus’ current problems.

“Ares,” Dionysus pouted, knowing how powerless he is in the situation, “I wanna punch him.”

<><><>

“Man, I didn’t know Hephaestus had that much emotional baggage on him!” Apollo exclaimed, lying on the bed of the room he shared with his sister, “Must be tough. For someone like him.”

“Mmhmm,” Artemis replied casually, scrolling away through her phone.

“Aren’t you worried for Dio?” He rolled sideways to look at her, “He doesn’t even know what’s happening behind the scenes. It’s Ares we’re talking about.”

“Dio might not have an idea what’s going on,” Artemis didn’t bother looking up, “But the student council will.”


	18. Interrogated. Twice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s 2020! Happy New Year everyone!

The entire student body dreaded today, for no one saw this event coming. The student council had raided their phones and submitted them to the disciplinary committee for monthly checking. The dates were always rotated, so they had no way anyone could predict when it would happen. The only way to was to get a leak from the student council, but they’d cut their tongues out afterwards.

Hephaestus felt a bit nervous, it was his class’ turn to get their phones checked. He couldn’t remember any big secret he’d never let anyone in the world know. Hopefully, things would work out for him.

Oh, how wrong he was.

Artemis, meanwhile, stood guard at the in front of the door in the counselors room, feeling bored as ever as she watched the teachers scan through different phones. 

A notification rang, piquing Artemis’ attention. The message shocked Artemis to her core.

_ Heph _

_ Wait for me after school and the front gate _

_ We’re going somewhere again _

It seems that Ares is making his errand boy do work again.

<><><>

Hephaestus didn’t know what warranted him this interrogation. It was after school hours and he had to attend to whatever Ares wanted him to.

And here he is, being lead in an empty hallway as Ariadne strides in front of him. They entered the library, which was as empty and quiet as ever. She sat in one of the study tables and motioned Hephaestus to sit across her. They sat in awkward silence before she broke it.

“I know this is sudden,” she laughed, “but there’s something I wanted to ask you privately.”

He wondered why she had such a question in the first place, but didn’t think of it too much, “Go on.”

She inhaled then exhaled.

“Do you like Dionysus?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i should do more cliffhanger endings


	19. Clearing the Air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its the first day of school :D i wish winter break was longer

_ Crap _

_Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap— _

The word repeated itself in Hephaestus’ mind. Was he too obvious? Did he accidentally say something wrong?

“Yeah sure!” Hephaestus nervously laughed, “He’s my best friend!”

“I meant romantically,”

He gripped the hem of his uniform as she saw right through him, trying to stay calm.

“So you do,” Ariadne sighed.

“Did,” he admitted, “not anymore.”

She tilted her head, “Since when?”

“Since he fell in love with you,”

“Oh really? Because I think otherwise,” 

Hephaestus was taken aback when Ariadne threw off his lie.

“I always knew that you were in love with him. You’re always giving off the feel of a heartbroken virgin girl when Dionysus invites you to our dates,”

He felt as if a speech bubble had pierced his chest, “I’m not a fan of being a third wheel, but you didn’t have to be so specific.”

“Sorry, I side-tracked too much,” 

He couldn’t detect what the air around them was. He had finally cleared the fog and they can finally see it so clearly.

There was one more thing, or a few other things left until they could see the clear blue sky.

“Do you still love him?”

“No,” Hephaestus repeated, “Not anymore.”

“Then,” she inquired again, “Do you hate him?”

“Of course not!” He slammed his hands to the table, “What the Tartarus are you thinking!”

He flinched for a bit, then sat down and shriveled back to his initial position, “I’m sorry. That was rude of me.”

“That’s a relief,” She sighed, “But you better tell him that.”

“Huh? Does he hate me?”

“Not you. He hates the guy you’re with all the time,” she explains, “I think we’re pretty much know, Dionysus is kind of a reckless fool who only sees what he wants to see. He puts all of the hate on Ares because he’s simply blind to the possibility that you’re pushing him away from him

“But, that’s what I’m here. To make sure that he’s not getting the wrong idea. I need to set him straight.

“As his girlfriend,”

Hephaestus couldn’t believe her words. He never knew she was someone so strong-headed.

“If you mind me asking,” she asked, “what is your relationship with Ares?”

He thought the word was at the back of his tongue, but he couldn’t answer her at all. He had always feared him, shunned him, never wanted to associate with him. At the first weeks of his errand boy job, he had thought Ares was the reincarnation of all that is evil.

But slowly and surely, it all stopped. The next thing he knew, he stopped getting treated like an errand boy, at least that’s what it felt.

“I—,” Hephaestus breathed, “I’m not so sure. I’m not sure if we’re friends, or not. But he treats me nicely now, and he never makes me do chores and stuff anymore.”

Ariadne became concerned. She didn’t thing “nice” out of all words would describe Ares. She had hoped that it was a budding friendship, and not Stockholm Syndrome.

“Ah, that’s great,” the girl sighed before standing up, “But please don’t forget about Dionysus as well. He misses being with you, or at least that’s what he says.”

“I will, thank you,”

Before they parted ways, Hephaestus asked a final question.

“Ariadne, what is it that you see in Dionysus?”

Her answer was quick and simple, “Probably the same thing you see in him.”

<><><>

Ares waited in the school gates, frustrated. There were a few students left in the schoolyard, most of them stole quick glances of him. 

He sighed, before hearing stomps headed in his direction. 

“I’m sorry!” Hephaestus panted heavily besides Ares, “I had something to do at the library!”

“Took you long enough,” he took his hand and held it, as if it were an instinct, “We’re going to the capital again.”

“Hell yeah!” the smaller boy cheered, knowing that the food and shops at the capital were way better than the ones in their area.

As they walked out of the school, two people hid in behind the one of the trees that surrounded the school yard, having witnessed everything.

“Oh my Chaos,” Apollo gasped, “Artie, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“What the everliving Tartarus is happening,”


	20. Another One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> damn i never thought it'd reach 20 chapters lol

Ares had taken Hephaestus’ study advice to heart, it seemed, so instead of another café they first headed towards their public library. Hephaestus never felt so awed before, this one was tenfolds larger than their own at school! The ambience was strict yet peaceful at the same time.

Hephaestus had noticed that there were a lot of other students here studying too, and a lot of them wore different school uniforms. Such a place is a hotspot for studying, it didn’t take much to figure why, though.

He felt nervous if there were no more reference books left to use, but his worries left as there were dozens of shelves still full of them to use.

As they were studying, some people stole glances of them. It was a surprise to see someone looking like a street thug study so diligently. Ares never minded though, as the piles of books he used blocked them from his vision.

“Hey, Heph,” Ares inquired.

“Yeah?” He answered, not bothering to avert his eyes from his book.

“Have you,” his breath hitched for a bit, “ever liked someone?”

Hephaestus groaned internally, what’s up with people itching into his love life, but he decides to play along, “I have.”

“Did it work in the end?”

“No,” he decided to end it there, “because he got a girlfriend.”

The lead of Ares’ mechanical pencil snapped. He looked at the boy beside him, whose face was unchanged.

“And you’re fine with that?”

“Of course,” he flipped a page, “I never told him how I felt. I didn’t want to risk losing him as a friend.”

Ares felt his mind scream. He did as Aphrodite told, but the outcome he reached wasn’t in her prediction. He wondered if he should give up, before deciding to take matters into his own hands.

“Do you still love him?”

Hephaestus closed his book. He had been pushed and pushed about his feelings towards Dionysus so much and he’s fallen off the edge. Unable to control his words and thoughts, he repeated, “No. Not anymore. I kept it to myself because I decided that Dionysus’ happiness was more important than my own—“

‘Dionysus? Where have I heard of name before?’

“—But honestly,” He chuckled, “No one would fall in love with a coward like me.”

“That’s not true,” his tone was stern, “If you were one, you’d quit doing shit for me in a few days, yet you managed to stomach me for months now, until the end of the school year.”

Hephaestus chuckled a bit, “I have, haven’t I? Maybe because you’ve been nice to me lately?”

The conversation had stopped at that point. Hephaestus was glad that Ares didn’t press on him more, but he couldn’t ignore how Ares held his hand tighter than usual.


	21. Studying is Kinda Sad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay in updates its cus of fucken school agyghaygsyagysa 
> 
> no updates 'til cny tho, so stay tuned fellas

The end of the second semester was knocking at the door. The students had been given a break to study for their finals. Ares, of course, asked for Hephaestus’ help. Hephaestus never had a harder time than before. Ares would often space out, whether during explanations or trial runs. He was at his wits end, wanting to rip out his hair from his scalp.

“Ares, is something bothering you?”

He gripped the sides of his arms, impatient for an answer as Ares merely took his time to his answers.

“I’m not confident on my scores,” Ares chuckled lightly.

“But you’ve never been so out of focus!” Hephaestus tried to hold in his frustration, “There’s gotta be something, right?”

“Actually, there is something,” he sighed, “It’s about Enyo and Polemus.”

Hephaestus cocked his head, “Did you have a fight?”

“No, it’s just,” Ares played with his fingers, “Enyo’s going to uniprep, and Polemus is transferring to another school in another country. So basically, I’m going to be left alone again.”

Although Ares’ grin didn’t falter, Hephaestus couldn’t stand how unbearably fake it was, “Then again, it’s not like this is the first time this hasn’t happened. I mean, Hera left back then, and now they’re leaving too. It’s not like they did it because they hate me but—“

“I wonder just how long do I have to keep up with my friends leaving me alone while they go to somewhere I can’t reach,”

At the end of his speech, Hephaestus punched his face, proceeding to pull Ares’ collar across the table. The pent-up stress he had been building up until now had been seething, flooding the gates open and were now on full display for Ares to see.

“You stupid, selfish, asshole!” he exclaimed, “Do you know how fucking sick of this shit I am?!”

Ares was speechless, he couldn’t comprehend Hephaestus’ sudden outburst.

“A buncha other students transfer or graduate every year, so what?! Then they go to me and say, _“Aww, I’m gonna miss them, now I’ll have no friends,”_ as if they were talking to the wall or something!

“And then they start making more friends when I’m not around! And they can go doing whatever they want, while I have to cleanup their messes! And then—“

Tears started to fall down, and his voice started to crack. His grip on Ares’ collar loosened.

“And then he leaves me for some girlfriend that enters the scene,” his voiced became quieter, “And then he never hangs out anymore and barely talks to me, and when he talks to me it’s all Ariadne this and Ariadne that, and then I’m left alone again 'cus he’s got more friends to replace me.”

“I’m still here, and I’m always gonna be the only one left when everyone else is gone,” he cries, “so fucking look at me.”

Ares handed Hephaestus a handkerchief. It’s not the first time an alien name slipped from Hephaestus’ tongue, but he had never paid attention to it.

“I’m sorry,” he hides his face under the cloth, “I don’t know all that well about things between you, Enyo and Polemus. I shouldn’t have said all those things.”

“I mean,” Ares scratched his cheek, “That did come out of nowhere.”

Ares inhaled, taking a leap, “You shouldn’t hold in any of your feelings for too long. You can tell me stuff whenever and I’ll listen.’

He replied with a sniff, “Really?”

“Of course,” he felt himself get nervous, “We are friends right?”

“I guess so,” he smiled, but it was hidden in the handkerchief, “I suppose that is a good thing.”

Ares patted Hephaestus’ head, “Good, ‘cus I’m all you’re gonna get.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i put a lot of my personal feelings to this lol


	22. Late Apology, Though Not Quite

Finals preparation has been hell and back for Ares. Even though he’s had help from Hephaestus to improve his scores, he’s still at risk of being put through summer classes. It’s not as if his scores were so bad that he had to be held back a year, but he’d be damned if he had to sit through lectures all summer long. He sighed. He just needs to keep his scores up, so that he won’t get transferred to another school in shame, and so that he can finally ask his mother a favor.

<><><> 

It had been hell and back for Hephaestus as well. Whilst the other students were making last minute preparations outside the exam room, he just sat on the ground beside his bag, hands on his head. He was used to studying for exams back and forth, but luckily for him, tomorrow was his last day, and soon it will all be over.

But then that would also mean that today might be his last day of spending time or studying with Ares for a very long time. Now that he’s realized it, they’ve barely ever talked about anything else other than Ares asking Hephaestus for help with something. 

If it was like that the whole time, could he really be called a friend at all? Or maybe was he selfishly taking advantage of Ares the whole time? By using him as a distraction from his troubles with his own best friend, which have partially been solved by Ariadne.

‘_Dammit_,’ Hephaestus sighed, ‘_All of this thinking is frying my brain up._’

<><><> 

Hell week was over, finally. The students all rejoiced knowing that their exams were finished, including Hephaestus.

From the moment he stepped in and out of the exam room, his thoughts have been a jumbled up mess. He didn’t bother checking his answers twice, and he ran out of the room as quickly as possible. He wanted the exam week to finish, but inside, he felt as if wanting it to end means wanting him to stop being around Ares.

He felt terrible for the all the yelling he did yesterday. Ares had nothing to do with it, and yet he had pushed all of that weight and burden towards a bystander, even if Ares had brushed it off casually.

Seeing the man standing outside the gates waiting for him, he felt relieved that he might not be upset at him. 

He quickly packed his bag and was about to leave, shoving his stationary into his bag disgracefully.He hurriedly ran down the stairs, occasionally shoving past other students, until a crowd had clustered around the shoe lockers.

“Attention please!” A loud voice resonated throughout the corridor. The students collectively drew their attention towards Apollo and Artemis, the latter holding a megaphone.

“We are apart of the Prom committee! The ticket sales have been open for the next 5 days! Early bird tickets cost 25% cheaper and will last until today 00:00 sharp!” She shouted exhaustingly as Apollo handled payment with several students beside them, “Get yours now or order through the Student Council’s official LINE account!”

Hephaestus had felt like a snake in the tall grass, trying his best to slither past the crowd of students ready to throw money at the twins. When he got out, he ran towards the front gate and tapped Ares’ shoulder, who shot him a surprised look.

“What’re you doing here?” He asked, expecting Enyo or Polemus to greet him after finishing their remedial session.

“I’m sorry for last time!” He exclaimed, “I shouldn’t have shouted at you!”  
Ares just sighed, although he took he situation lightly previously, he didn’t voice any of his complaints because he thought it would worsen Hephaestus’ state. He was used to people owing him debts, but he decided to cut off pieces of his past self ever since he had realized his feelings.

Since he’s done so much, it wouldn’t be a sin to indulge in it one last time, would it?

“I wasn’t really bothered by anything you said, but it did sting a bit, and it kind of came out of nowhere,” Ares fiddled with his word. He leaned down and slid his hand over Hephaestus’ shoulder, “Maybe if you do this favor for me.”

“A favor?”

“Buy me two prom tickets,” he whispered, “And we can call it even.”


	23. Prom Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the delay of updates! February has been a busy month for me, but I've found some spare time to write this. Thank you for your patience

Ares makes his way towards a crowd of students, all dressed in formal wear for the occasion. A few of the subconsciously made way for the brute, whether because of his reputation or his disheveled tux.

He tapped a certain female student’s shoulder, all her friends scurrying off when they saw the giant hulking over the girl. She turned and saw him, and beamed.

“Ares!” Aphrodite jumped, “How’s your date going?”

“Terrible! I can’t even find him in this damn crowd!” He grunted, looking like a tree in a sea of tall grass.

“Shouldn’t that be a good thing? After all,” she coaxed him, coating the words with sugar so that he wouldn’t be able to catch the sense of unwantedness, “if you like him, you should be able to tell him apart.”

He wanted to ask her what that meant, but she had already been whisked away, either by some lucky man or woman who got to be her partner, or that cheeky underclassman Eros who always knows how to get on his nerves.

“If I like him, I should be able to tell him apart,” He chanted those words quietly like a mantra, before noticing something, “Now that I think about it, I can pretty much see the entire room with this height.”

<><><>  
  


Hephaestus had ran towards Enyo and Polemus, sitting on one of the dinner tables. He placed his second Tupperware container on the table, which was filled to the brim with buffet food.

“You know,” Enyo stared at him, “If the student council catches you doing this, they might not spare your life.”

“That’s why I’m doing it quietly,” He retorted, grabbing his last empty lunchbox, “Call me cheap or lazy, but if Ares drags me to a party I’m going to enjoy it _my_ way.”

He ran towards the crowd, being undetectable in a mere few seconds. Polemus sighed , “We’re not going to see him for a long time, yet this is the impression he’s leaving us.”

“He’s not doing a better job than Ares,” she directed his attention towards the man running towards them, with his messy tie and messy hair.

“Where’s Heph?” He huffed. Both of them pointed towards the buffet area, and both didn’t get a spare glance from him as he pushed through the crowd to get to his destination.

<><><> 

He wondered if it would be a good idea to take one of the desserts instead of another main course. The chocolates covered fruits and small cakes in display looked absolute treat, but the stew in front of him looked absolutely scrumptious, luring him into a daze.

“Hey!” a loud voice shook him to the core.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’ll pay you back, just please don’t take my food away!”

Ares stepped back for a bit, “Easy there, I’m not the student council.”

Hephaestus blinked and looked up to see it was Ares, looking more nervous than usual.  
“What have you been doing?”

“Oh this?” He lifted up his lunchboxes, almost falling from their weight, “I was just hording all of this food so I wouldn’t have to cook for a few days. Kind of a cheap move, but it saves time and money.”

Ares took one of them from his hands with a bit of a scowl, “If you carry these all by yourself, your hands are gonna fall off. Don’t tell me you’ve got more of these waiting for you.”

“…..,”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he grumbled.

“I’m fine, why don’t go dance?” Hephaestus smiled a bit, before walking away. He grew nervous when he sensed Ares following him.

“I think I’ve had enough dancing for tonight,” Ares sighed, “What about you?”

“I can’t dance to save my life! I’d get so nervous, my own legs would give away!” Hephaestus laughed, “And besides, girls prefer taller guys to dance with, and there’s a bunch of giants in our school, so I was in the losing side to begin with.”

Ares had exhaled, thanking his gut feeling that told him to ask Heph to dance with him was a terrible idea. He should’ve known that someone like him would prefer a quieter environment with little to no people. But this wasn’t the end for him, Aphrodite had told him that what comes after the prom matters as well.

“Hey Heph,” he leaned in towards the smaller boy, “I just got the expansion pass for Smash Brothers, and I got the DLC of this game I know you really like. My mom will be working late, so if you want to crash at my place, you’re free to do so.”

They didn’t sleep that night.


	24. Moving In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> before y'all read this i just want to say i wrote this at 1am half awake so i apologise for th e drop in quality.

It was the wee hours of the morning, where the sun hadn’t risen and the stars were still in the sky. A woman had stumbled her way to her apartment, fumbling with her keys she tried opening the door.

When she entered the door, Ares was there in the living room, fiddling with his phone. When he saw who entered, he stopped what he was doing and immediately approached the woman. 

“Ma!” he cried out, but she looked indifferent. She had handed him his bags and walked past him as if he never existed. She plopped into the couch and sighed. 

“Ma, there’s something I want to ask you about,” He didn’t stop his attempts, “I’m going to start a new year at school.”

The woman lit up a cigarette butt, exhaling a cloud of smoke instead of answering her own son.

“Since I’m almost an adult, it’d be great If I could learn living by myself,” he went on, “I want to stay at the school’s dorm until I graduate.”

She sighed as she looked at her son as if he was a stranger, not an ounce of care or sympathy could be found in her voice.

“Just do whatever you want. You’re not a kid anymore,”

<><><> 

It was the beginning of summer break, so why the hell are the new kids moving into the dorm now? Shouldn’t they move in when it’s 2-3 weeks ‘til the new academic year? 

It’d never cross Hephaestus’ mind if he was a ‘model student’ among his batch, especially with the amount of detentions he got in his early days as an errand boy. A reason as to why he had to help out the student council was probably because they were understaffed at the moment. How pathetic, unable to refuse when asked for help. Now he’s suffering the consequences of his own low self esteem.

Talking to others had never felt so tiring before. All that Hephaestus could think of was sleeping in his bed all day long. Fortunately, when everyone had been dismissed and the new students assigned to their rooms, Hephaestus managed to slip away and escape to his room. 

Luckily, his old roommate had transferred to a new school, so he had the dorm all to himself. Hephaestus never felt so giddy, thinking that he never had to share anything again, but he stopped in his tracks at the corridor when he saw the door to his room wide open.

Strange, he was sure he had locked it before the event commenced. He stormed into the room without thinking.

“Hey, excuse me!” he exclaimed, “What are you doing in my dorm?!”

The figure who was inside turned to see a bewildered Heph, “Oh, it’s you.”

“Ares?!” he shouted, “What are you doing here?!”

“This is my new room, duh,” he smirked, spinning around his new key, “Looks like we’ll be room buddies ‘til we graduate.”

“B-But--,”

“How did you not know this? Our names were literally called out when they assigned the dorms,” Ares sighed, “Ah, well. Let’s try and get along, okay?”

Hephaestus wanted to cry. After gaining a clingier roommate than before, it seems that privacy is forever out of his reach. 


	25. At the Breakfast Table

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for disappearing, but with the hiatus ended and this chapter released, we've officially reached the beginning of the second season of this work! Thanks for all the support so far! Hopefully everyone's safe during quarantine, best of health to all the readers!

When Ares felt a hand in tap his face, his fight or flight responses woke him up. He grabbed it tightly and proceeded to open his eyes, shooting a cold glare, before stopping when he saw Hephaestus’ flustered face.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Waking you up, duh,” Hephaestus yanked his hand away, “Breakfast is almost done.”

Ares scratched his hair, yawning, “I didn’t know you could cook.”

“I can’t,” he answered calmly, “There are still some stalls open in the cafeteria over at summer break, otherwise they won’t be able to make money for the rest of the summer break.”

Ares sighed, “Will other people be there?”

“Why are you out of all people concerned about that?” Hephaestus joked, “Aren’t you the most feared person in the entire student body?”

“There’s a reason why I used to spend lunch period in an old shed that barely anyone knows about,” He put on his jacket, “Can’t we just eat somewhere else?”

“I cant afford to waste anymore money right now!” Hephaestus dragged the bigger man out of the room, “It’s free food, Ares! Free food!”

Ares sighed as he surrendered, holding his hand as he let him out of their room. As long as Hephaestus is with him, everything should be fine, right?”

<><><> 

A young Iris sat in a table alone. It had been a day since transferring to this new school, yet she hasn’t made a single friend. She sighed, looking down at her food as she ate.

“Hey, excuse me!” Someone tapped her shoulder, it was an upperclassman, “May we sit here?”

“O-Of course,” Iris was more focused on the one behind him, hulking over the both of them like a lamppost—a terrifying one.

“I haven’t seen you before. Are you a transfer student?” Hephaestus asked as he sat across her.

“Yes,” she nodded shyly, “My name is Iris. I’m a second-year student.”

“I’m Hephaestus, and this here’s Ares,” he nudged the boy beside him, “Hey, say something!”

“Uh,” he only gave her a glance before looking away, “Hello…”

“Sorry, he’s just shy,” Hephaestus smiled, “We’re third-years, so if you have any questions, you can go to us.”

“Oh! Uh, I was wondering,” Iris fumbled a little, “Which stall sells the best desserts? I didn’t have the time to look around while I was lining up.”

“Do you see that stall with the red sign? The cakes they sell are pretty great, but they cost around 2 dollars,” He pointed before turning towards another stall, “But the one over here with the blue sign gives away free bowls of fruit salad, if you’re looking for a cheaper option.”

“Thank you! I’ll be right back!”

When Iris was gone, Ares leaned back and slung his arm over him, “Who’re you calling shy, huh?” He grabbed Hephaestus’s chin, making him look, “Remind me again who was the one that dragged me to this table to talk to that underclassman?”

“I--,” Hephaestus blushed a bit before mumbling the next words, “I’ve never made any friends without Dionysus.”

“So I’m just a proxy?”

“Of course not--,”

“I’m just joking,” Ares chuckled whilst ruffling Hephaestus’ hair, “Silly boy.”

Hephaestus pushed the man away, proceeding to banter with Ares. Little did they know, Iris never left for the desert and watched their whole exchange from behind a pillar.

_‘Are they dating?’_ The words never left her head the whole day.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this far shshshhshshs


End file.
